Kobo Glo Now Available from Powell’s Books and Other Indie Stores in the US

The Kobo Glo is a 6-inch ebook reader that looks to be a big contender this holiday season with its built-in frontlight and high-resolution E Ink screen, especially with the Kindle Paperwhite on backorder until mid-December, but up until now the Kobo Glo has been unavailable for purchase in the United States despite the fact it was first released over 1 month ago in Canada and the UK.

Finally the Kobo Glo is starting to show up at a few independent bookstores across the US both online and in stores.

Among them is Powell’s Books. They have the Kobo Glo available for order from their website for $129 with free shipping. I ordered one this morning for review since I can’t find any locally. I haven’t got the shipping notice yet, but hopefully the device will arrive by the end of next week.

If you want to find a Kobo Glo locally, the best way to search for independent bookstores in your area is to use this Indie Store Finder. Then call and see if they have any in stock. Not very many stores have them yet, it seems, but shipments are supposedly coming in over the next couple of weeks.

This is an interesting approach that Kobo is taking for distributing the Kobo Glo in the US. Instead of using big name retailers like Best Buy and Walmart, they are distributing through smaller independent bookstores. The devices will probably start showing up in retail stores eventually but for right now this is all we’ve got.

I can’t comprehend why Kobo doesn’t sell the Kobo Glo from Buy.com. Both Kobo and Buy.com are owned by the same company, Rakuten. Makes no sense. Regardless, it’s good to see the Kobo Glo finally making its way to the US.

12 Responses to “Kobo Glo Now Available from Powell’s Books and Other Indie Stores in the US”

Nathan, do you think that Kobo might be doing some kind of windowing with the Glo to give indie sellers an edge? That is my best guess as to why we cant order them on the Kobo website. I ordered a Kobo Mini from Best Buy today and paid taxes and expedited shipping 🙁

Honestly I don’t know what Kobo is doing half the time. They are going in so many directions I’m not sure they know what they are doing half the time either. I don’t see how distributing through independent bookstores benefits the bookstores or Kobo. Indie stores are going to offer Kobo’s ebooks in a roundabout way to get a cut in sales, but that’s not going to bring in enough revenue for them, it certainly wasn’t for Borders. And Indie stores are too few and far between. It makes it too difficult for customers to go test one out in stores or even buy one for that matter. Why Kobo isn’t at least selling them online is beyond comprehension to me.

I also noticed that the “Coming Soon” buttons are gone from all of Kobo’s eReader pages on their website. Instead, the only order method available is a “Where to Buy” tab filled with links to Best Buy, other online retailers, and independent bookstores. Even the Kobo Touch is no longer available for purchase on kobo.com. Could it be that Kobo is no longer selling their devices directly to buyers????

Wow, I was just there yesterday and didn’t even notice the coming soon signs were gone. That’s ominous. And what the heck happened to selling the Touch? Guess I’d better stop linking to Kobo for buy links. I figured they’d get them up eventually in one nice consolidated place for everyone, but it looks like they are doing away with selling them from their website entirely.

I spoke too soon: that “buy now” button leads to the “where to order” page! It appears Kobo is no longer selling devices directly to customers! I could see them making this move; I doubt they have the resources to manage global distribution and shipping costs.

” … but it looks like they are doing away with selling them from their website entirely. …”

Since buy.com is same parent kobo having another site is redundant. buy.com doesn’t have a physical presence (no place for people to try out the device). The priority order here makes sense if there is limited supply of devices. Retailers that can sell *and* showroom the devices should be first priority.

Trying to slightly juice profit margins by selling more directly might be a short term boost, but it is a long term bust. Without solid partners Kobo won’t be a factor.

I bought my Kobo Glo from Powell’s and it’s perfect. I did try looking for any local bookstores that might have it but the only one I found was about an hour away so I chose to buy from Powell’s. I’m glad I did because they packaged my Kobo Glo perfectly. It arrived before the estimated shipping date which was also a plus. I’d definitely recommend buying from them if you want the Kobo Glo. I’m so glad I bought it. 🙂